i have to agree on the 360 cam thing - not a fan at all.
I switch off as soon as i see 360 footage.
Newer go pros shoot a nice image with an optional not-so-crazy wide look (that makes mast high waves look like waist high)
and with amazing stabilisation. The real culprit here is the "junkification" of video. Too many short videos dropped on instagram / facey - which people watch the first few seconds of and then scroll on.
(The algorithm counts this as a "view" thus rewarding the creator and in turn their sponsor with a useless stat )
Especially if its a freestyle move -there are literally hundreds and thousands of freestyle videos of flakas etc or, someone trying to tack on a lame 4th or 5th slow spinning slide onto the end of a sequence. It just feels forced.
But i have so much respect for the actual athleticism and technical skill that freestyle windsurfers have.
So there is a huge paradox there. Freestyle action is epic live, but almost unwatchable now on screen due to media saturation.
So much video is made with no care.
The word "Content" is a red flag - just shoot it and get it out there.
With no love in acquisition or edit. But get it out there NOW! live if possible. More, more more! In vertical please so it looks really bad but takes up the most screen on a lazily un rotated phone screen
No lensing,no love to framing or camera movement - often just a phone shot.
Sponsored riders have pressure to get more viewers by dropping endless short low-value videos. As long as the sponsor sees a big number of videos dropped they are happy - regardless of the actual result.
(hint: they need to find a way to measure net engagement - better to have 200 people that love and watch your videos from start to end than 10 thousand viewers that watch the first 3 seconds and scroll on to whatever lame content the algorithm serves up next)
This de values the whole viewing experience.
You can't please everyone all of the time and shouldn't try.
Some people just want you to get straight to the action.
Others love and embrace the journey (PVB video style has captured this really well )
Another Paradox.
What does it all mean? The hope is in longer format video. Or short format done well.
At a time when we are told that attention spans are getting shorter.
(To illustrate how bad it is Facebook recently dropped video optimization from the first 3s to the first 2s of video views.3 seconds was too long to count as a view because people were gone by then)
But at the same time, people are buying film cameras/ vinyl records and embracing the wait to develop film.
And, happily - Punk (or pop punk / punk rock) is Back! Amyl and the Sniffers
- which usually signals a pushback against the narrative people are being fed. Which is encouraging.
More paradoxes! My take - it is better to have a lovingly made production with care and design given to creation, and something to say, and have less viewers but to make a real impact on them.
Examples
- Anything by Bernd Roediger
-John John Florence series of Surfing movies
- The Windsurfing Movies
-4 Dimensions by Andre Paskowski (RIP)